Statement of purpose
This is a draft of my SOP. Please feel free to comment.
To be honest, I joined <company name>, the second largest telecommunications product company in the world, for two reasons, the pay and job security. I know I will never regret my decision- not because of the money in my account or for the fact that I still have a job but because this decision introduced me to the world of Networking and Communications.
Having a Scientist (astrophysics) for a father, my interest in Science and Mathematics was inherent. This also ensured a stronghold on these subjects which led to choosing Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics as my major subjects in high school. Be it something as small as a toothbrush to the something as big as an airplane I have always been awed by the research and engineering which has gone into making technologies to make our lives so much easier. By the end of high school I knew what I wanted to see myself in the future- an Engineer.
My innate strength has been my quantitative and analytical abilities which helped me secure a rank among the top 5% of 1 lakh students who took the engineering entrance exam. This helped in getting an admission in a reputed college, <college name> with major as Electrical and Electronics. During the course of my undergraduate studies I was exposed to various courses such as digital signal processing, computer techniques in power systems, machine design, control systems, object oriented programming using C++, computer organization and microprocessors. My undergraduate project was "Reactive power compensation in wind power plants using Static Var Compensators" which showed how wastage of power could be avoided using compensators. My project group received the highest marks (95%) for this project which included a working model and presentation.
As for academic performance, I have always been ranked in the top three out of 60 students during my entire schooling and the four years of my under graduate studies. With good academics and communication skills I got placed in two top companies- <company1> and <company2>. I chose <comapany2> to start my career as Software Engineer.
I was lucky to join the research and development division of a project working in VoIP (Voice over IP), the latest technology or in my manager's words 'the cutting edge technology!' . I was primarily working on a class 5 softswitch trying to develop it into a class 4 switch by adding more functionality.
The interest in knowing more about computer networks started by just browsing the internet for information to help me perform my tasks better and before I knew it I was putting in extra efforts reading and understanding papers which showed how telecommunications industry has evolved from connecting individual phones to communicate to using the Internet to make calls. Though there are a lot of papers written on the Next Generation Networks and the problems faced, no concrete solution has been achieved in reference to two aspects, security and the quality of service. Achieving stability in these two aspects will help in bridging the comfort level between legacy networks and the data network. While working on the VoIP project I saw that the customers were reluctant to switch from legacy networks to VoIP networks mainly because of these two features not being stable. I want to research on a solution for a better communication network in the future.
Currently I am working on network management systems which involve fault recording and performance management. This is giving me a deeper insight to the network elements. Working on both the network element side and the management of these elements have given me the chance to understand the working of communication networks and also protocols like Session Initiation Protocol(SIP) , TCP/IP and Simple Network Management Protocol(SNMP).
Along with technical knowledge I also gained experience in working in a team and realized the need for communicating openly. I am also part of automating the entire process of creating builds to testing the latest builds in order to improve the quality of the product.
I presently need a serious academic institution to be trained into a full-fledged scholar. I would like to obtain a Masters degree specializing in computer networks in the United States, which will be the best way of obtaining a graduate education at an international level. I have read about specialized research labs in <UNIV> working on <some more customization for each <univ> and the course suits my needs. I am confident that a graduate degree specializing in Computer Networks will enable me to achieve the goal and prepare me for a PhD program in the future. I would consider it an honor if I could study at <univ> at the same time giving me an opportunity to create a career path which I desire.
-Arshara
This is a draft of my SOP. Please feel free to comment.
To be honest, I joined <company name>, the second largest telecommunications product company in the world, for two reasons, the pay and job security. I know I will never regret my decision- not because of the money in my account or for the fact that I still have a job but because this decision introduced me to the world of Networking and Communications.
Having a Scientist (astrophysics) for a father, my interest in Science and Mathematics was inherent. This also ensured a stronghold on these subjects which led to choosing Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics as my major subjects in high school. Be it something as small as a toothbrush to the something as big as an airplane I have always been awed by the research and engineering which has gone into making technologies to make our lives so much easier. By the end of high school I knew what I wanted to see myself in the future- an Engineer.
My innate strength has been my quantitative and analytical abilities which helped me secure a rank among the top 5% of 1 lakh students who took the engineering entrance exam. This helped in getting an admission in a reputed college, <college name> with major as Electrical and Electronics. During the course of my undergraduate studies I was exposed to various courses such as digital signal processing, computer techniques in power systems, machine design, control systems, object oriented programming using C++, computer organization and microprocessors. My undergraduate project was "Reactive power compensation in wind power plants using Static Var Compensators" which showed how wastage of power could be avoided using compensators. My project group received the highest marks (95%) for this project which included a working model and presentation.
As for academic performance, I have always been ranked in the top three out of 60 students during my entire schooling and the four years of my under graduate studies. With good academics and communication skills I got placed in two top companies- <company1> and <company2>. I chose <comapany2> to start my career as Software Engineer.
I was lucky to join the research and development division of a project working in VoIP (Voice over IP), the latest technology or in my manager's words 'the cutting edge technology!' . I was primarily working on a class 5 softswitch trying to develop it into a class 4 switch by adding more functionality.
The interest in knowing more about computer networks started by just browsing the internet for information to help me perform my tasks better and before I knew it I was putting in extra efforts reading and understanding papers which showed how telecommunications industry has evolved from connecting individual phones to communicate to using the Internet to make calls. Though there are a lot of papers written on the Next Generation Networks and the problems faced, no concrete solution has been achieved in reference to two aspects, security and the quality of service. Achieving stability in these two aspects will help in bridging the comfort level between legacy networks and the data network. While working on the VoIP project I saw that the customers were reluctant to switch from legacy networks to VoIP networks mainly because of these two features not being stable. I want to research on a solution for a better communication network in the future.
Currently I am working on network management systems which involve fault recording and performance management. This is giving me a deeper insight to the network elements. Working on both the network element side and the management of these elements have given me the chance to understand the working of communication networks and also protocols like Session Initiation Protocol(SIP) , TCP/IP and Simple Network Management Protocol(SNMP).
Along with technical knowledge I also gained experience in working in a team and realized the need for communicating openly. I am also part of automating the entire process of creating builds to testing the latest builds in order to improve the quality of the product.
I presently need a serious academic institution to be trained into a full-fledged scholar. I would like to obtain a Masters degree specializing in computer networks in the United States, which will be the best way of obtaining a graduate education at an international level. I have read about specialized research labs in <UNIV> working on <some more customization for each <univ> and the course suits my needs. I am confident that a graduate degree specializing in Computer Networks will enable me to achieve the goal and prepare me for a PhD program in the future. I would consider it an honor if I could study at <univ> at the same time giving me an opportunity to create a career path which I desire.
-Arshara